Friday, 5 August 2011

Presidential candidate Warren G Harding was renowned for his high sounding stump speeches. Opponents were not so sure that Harding’s speeches actually said anything.

Here is Democratic Party member William McAdoo’s take on a typical Harding speech:

“... it is an army of pompous phrases moving over the landscape in search of an idea. Sometimes these meandering words actually capture a straggling thought and bear it triumphantly, a prisoner in their midst, until it died of servitude and over work”

Or from H.L. Mencken on a Harding speech

“It reminds me of a string of wet sponges;

It reminds me of tattered washing on the line;

It reminds me of stale bean soup, of college yells, or dogs barking idiotically through endless nights.

It is so bad that a sort of grandeur creeps into it.

It draks itself out of a dark abysm...of pish, and crawls insanely up to the topmost pinnacle of posh.

It is rumble and bumble.

It is flap and doodle

It is bolder and dash”

(Quotations from a biography of Warren Harding written by John W. Dean and published by Times Books in 2004)

Warren G Harding was born on November 2nd 1865.

He was the Republican Party nominee for the Presidential election of 1920.

Harding was elected 29th President in November 1920.

He assumed office the following March (that was the custom “back then”), and died in office on August 2nd 1923

Wednesday, 3 August 2011

“Following the House, the Senate will hold a series of “pro forma” sessions over the next month, effectively blocking President Barack Obama from making any appointments during Congress’ August recess.

That means Obama won’t be able to seat his pick to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, whose nomination Republicans have vowed to oppose until Obama makes changes watering down the agency’s authority.

After passing the debt limit legislation on Monday, House leaders announced they would hold pro forma sessions through August, a procedural move that forced the Senate to follow suit. The Constitution requires that for either chamber to take more than a three-day break, the other chamber must give its approval.”(from Politico)

MY COMMENT

So the opponents of government spending, yes indeed those “patriotic and anti-taxation” Tea Party, Libertarian and Republican members of the House of Representatives, have decided that rather than call the usual recess, the House will hold pro-forma sessions every three days in August, in order to block possible recess appointments by the President.

How much will this cost “we the people” who will be forced to fund for these pro-forma sessions from the taxes we pay?Wouldn’t it be fairer if the House majority paid for these sessions from their own private funds?

The Senate, following the Constitution, has to fall in line with this lunacy.

Meanwhile, Tea Party ideology in the House has led to a a refusal to fund the Federal Aviation Authority. Some 4,000 F.A.A. employees have been furloughed without pay. Some 70,000 hard working Americans have been laid off from their F.A.A. funded construction jobs.

"To hell with public safety" seems to be the mantra of the dangerously radical right which controls the House of Representatives.

Sunday, 31 July 2011

I am in my screened in porch. Day has not broken, but there is enough ambient light for me to re-enter life after a good night’s sleep. I am ready to enjoy a cup of freshly brewed coffee. That’s all I need for now.

"Junior cat” Adelaide sways through the darkness and presents herself at my feet.

She utters not a polite “miaow”. Her tone is more insistent, with a demanding “bleah”.

“Bleah” means that I must caress her.

That I do.

Then, from some far off place in the semi darkness, “senior cat” Ada gets the drift and comes to my feet. She also demands my caresses. I am happy to oblige.

We are on a roll.

My delightful dog Penne is in another room. She senses that I am fussing over the cats. She (wanting a bit of the action) presents herself (in particular her haunches) for a bit of scratching from me, her “Daddy”.

I oblige Penne, and easily satisfied, she wanders back to her bed.

“Senior cat” Ada remembers that she has a crush on Penne. So she wanders off to snuggle up to her canine pal.

Penne does not reciprocate this crush. She’s very sweet about it, but after eight or so minutes she can “bear it no more”. She moves away to another sleeping place, only to discover that Ada has followed her.

About Me

I am from a blue collar background in Bristol, England, and was educated in the days of the 11+ system.
I am one of nine children. My eight siblings live in England.
After school I was first a banker; then a seminarian; then an Episcopal Priest.
I trained for ordained ministry at St. John's College, Nottingham, U.K; and the University of Nottingham from which I was graduated with the degree Bachelor in Theology.
I had 30 years of parish ministry in Massachusetts. (Fitchburg, Chicopee, Pittsfield and Cambridge).
Now retired, I live in Sarasota, FL.
My mantra: - "There is no secular world".